The author played an active part in helping Dick Taverne to make history by winning the by-election in Lincoln in 1973 when he left the Labour party & fought as a Democratic Labour candidate eight years before the formation of the Social Democratic Party. Dick Taverne held the seat at the General Election the next year but lost to Margaret Jackson later Margaret Beckett when there was a second election that year in October. The Lincoln City Council however Stayed in the control of the Democratic Labour Association for several years If the Re-Alignment of British Politics had been successful the Conservatives under Margaret Thatcher may not have won the 1979 General Election.